Missing Nicola Bulley
(Picture: Lancashire Constabulary)Nicola Bulley’s parents fear someone has “got her” after she disappeared while walking her dog.
The 45-year-old mother of two was last seen in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, about 9.15am on Friday.
Her mobile phone was found nearby still connected to a work conference call, while her pet springer spaniel Willow was also discovered and was found in an “agitated state”.
Her parents Ernest, 73, and Dot, 72, have now expressed their fears and say Nicola’s disappearance is totally out of character.
They told the Mirror “we will never stop looking for her” as the search entered its fifth day.
Recalling the last conversation with his daughter her father said: “Her mind was great, we picked the children up the Thursday before she went missing, as we do every Thursday.
“We took them home, Nicola had had a meeting with her boss in Garstang and she said can you stay a bit later because I have an important client coming in on Zoom. We said ‘no problem’ and stayed.
“She had done her work and she was very upbeat about getting her mortgage sorted.
“I said we better go now and Nicola came to the front door, and I gave her a kiss and told her I loved her and that was the last conversation I had with her.”
Lancashire Police said they are treating the case as a missing person investigation but are keeping an open mind.
The force also says there is nothing to suggest the dog walker was attacked.
But her father said there is no evidence Nicola fell in the river as she walked dog Willow so fears somebody may have “got her”.
He said he asked the sergeant if there was a chance she was “taken” but was told police do not think that’s the case.
He added: “I said ‘how can you know that?’, it’s such an isolated area, the only way that has happened is if it was someone who knew her family saying they “dread to think” they will never see Nicola again as he does not how they would deal with that “for the rest of our lives”.
Speaking about her daughter’s children, he added: “We don’t know how long we can keep going before they realise, they think mummy is coming home soon, but if this keeps going on and on I don’t know where we are going to go or what to say to them.”
It comes after police tracked down a “potentially key witness” who may have been the last person to see Nicola as he walked his own dog at around 9.15am.
They are drawing up a timeline of the period up until her disappearance.
Ms Bulley had taken her daughters, aged six and nine, to school then headed out on her regular morning dog walk.
At 9.01am, Nicola’s employer, Exclusively Mortgages, said she had logged on to a team meeting but her camera and microphone were off.
She was last seen walking east along the towpath of the River Wyre at 9.15am on January 27.
A woman has now revealed how she raised the alarm after discovering a “worried” looking Willow running alone.
She also found her dog lead and harness and Nicola’s phone on a bench heading towards Wyreside Farm Caravan Park.
Anybody who has seen the missing mother, or has information about where she might be, is asked to call 101, quoting log 473 of January 27.
The force said to call 999 to report immediate sightings.
